Among the 1.8 billion youth worldwide, about one-third are very young adolescents (VYA), that is, those between the ages of 10 and 14 years old. Most sexual and reproductive health interventions, however, have focused on adolescents 15 and older, and even research has often excluded VYAs. This YouthLens explores emerging research about and evaluated programs for VYAs, and provides recommendations from a group of experts who attended a technical consultation hosted by the IYWG.

Global mobile phone use is rapidly increasing and a large percentage of mobile phone subscribers are young people. Many programs are capitalizing on their ubiquity as a novel way to reach young people with important health information, and research is beginning to demonstrate that mobile phones are a feasible means of mass communication for this population. This YouthLens shares results from recent research and lessons learned from programs in this field.

Addressing young people’s economic vulnerability has been cited as a promising strategy for improving their sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This brief reviews various types of “economic empowerment” approaches, discusses some promising programs and talks about next steps for this relatively new topic of the intersection of economic empowerment and youth SRH

Adolescent pregnancies pose particular health risks to mothers and their newborns and can cause young women to struggle socially and economically. Hormonal contraceptives can have an important impact on adolescent health.

Young people in populations who are considered most at risk of HIV are often poorly served by programs aimed at adults in most-at-risk groups or by those geared toward the general population of youth. This YouthLens discusses some of the issues surrounding work with most-at-risk youth and offers some recommendations.

Reproductive health experts think that participation in sports can help girls build social networks, challenge gender norms, and enhance their physical and mental well-being. This YouthLens summarizes a discussion at the most recent meeting of the IYWG, where sports programming was highlighted as an innovative approach to protecting and empowering girls.

Most injecting drug users start the practice before age 25, yet few HIV prevention programs targeting injecting drug use focus on youth — either to prevent the initiation of injecting or to reduce risks of HIV associated with injecting drugs.

Most research and interventions addressing youth reproductive health (RH) and HIV issues have focused on older adolescents (ages 15 to 19) or young adults (ages 20 to 24). Recently, a growing number of projects are focusing on the needs of young adolescents (ages 10 to 14). Few of these projects have been evaluated, however, and more rigorous research is needed to identify the most promising aspects of the new projects for replication and expansion.

More information than ever before is being produced on youth reproductive health (RH) and HIV issues - research findings, program tools, case studies, meeting notices, and more. However, program planners, researchers, and policymakers often cannot find the information they need because it is buried in the large volumes of material produced. To address this need, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has recently funded three Web sites that make youth RH/HIV information easier to find and that provide guidance on what tools are most helpful.

In recent years, several major youth reproductive health (RH) and HIV prevention projects have included in their design the goal of expanding from a pilot site to significantly larger delivery areas. Other projects have sought to change policies and engage national ministries in an effort to ensure that large-scale implementation can occur. And, many include evaluations showing successful outcomes.

A growing number of policies and programs are attempting to help young people practice healthy sexual behaviors, improve reproductive health, and prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. What follows is a roadmap to some of the most recent documents synthesizing major findings in this field, organized by overview reports, summaries of agency programs/publications, bibliography/data, and reference and training materials. (excerpt)

The use of health care services by pregnant adolescents has the potential to reduce death and disability. Maternal death and disability represent an enormous public health problem in the developing world. For every 100,000 live births, women in the developing world are 22 times more likely than those in developed countries to die during or after pregnancy. Compared with women in their twenties, adolescents ages 15 to 19 are two times more likely to die during childbirth, and those ages 14 years and younger are five times more likely.

Increasingly, donors and nongovernmental organizations involved in HIV prevention and reproductive health issues are attempting to make young people a more prominent part of programming. Youth should be involved from the start as full and active partners in all stages from conceptualization, design, implementation, feedback, and follow-up, advises the World Health Organization. In the reproductive health and HIV/AIDS fields, information about the impact of youth-adult partnerships is limited.

To begin planning its program, the new Ethiopian Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Culture turned to an approach called participatory learning and action, or PLA. Officials involved young people throughout the country in a learning and planning process for the Ministry. The youth developed a national youth charter and a three-year action plan to mobilize youth for improved sexual health and HIV/AIDS preventive behavior. Plus, the process led to the creation of a dynamic network of young people committed to the health and future of the country. (excerpt)

This four-page brief describes projects in which pharmacists and other pharmacy staff were trained to provide youth with information and services related to contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

This research brief summarizes the specific medical, social, psychological, and programmatic needs of youth infected with HIV. Case studies of programs targeting HIV-infected youth in Africa, Europe, and North and South America are included.

This brief reviews recent research and program evaluations. It emphasizes that evaluations show that well-designed programs work, but implementation issues such as teacher training and cultural sensitivities remain challenging.

Summarizing the latest information on integrating reproductive health and HIV services for youth, this report identifies the need for more attention to pregnancy prevention in a variety of settings and further testing of service delivery models.

This YouthLens research brief summarizes the key issues regarding risks of child marriage and disadvantages of those already married at a young age, including summaries of programs addressing these issues. A summary of useful resources is included, covering more resources than are listed on this page.

This YouthLens brief describes the consequences of alcohol use on young people’s sexual and reproductive health. It addresses policies and programs aimed at reducing alcohol use and its negative consequences among young people.

Youth projects are increasingly involving community members in designing, shaping, and implementing projects. Research findings discussed in this document are promising, but more program experience and research are needed to understand the impact such efforts have. Resources include information on an ongoing interagency group working on this issue.

Early marriage can curtail girls' freedom; end their education prematurely; and put them at risk of HIV, early and unintended pregnancy, and domestic violence. This YouthLens reviews five approaches for delaying marriage. Program examples discussed were selected because they produced documented positive results or because they are generally agreed upon by the larger community of practice as being promising.

This research brief summarizes how education, services, and products can help protect youth against unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. It discusses how appropriate messages should be used, depending on age, level of sexual activity, and marital status.